Zuzanna Szadkowski ([ʂadˈkɔfski]; born October 22, 1978) is a Polish-American actress known for her role as Dorota Kishlovsky on CW teen drama series Gossip Girl. Szadkowski also appeared on The Knick, Girls, Search Party, The Good Wife, Sopranos, and Guiding Light. She made her New York Stage debut in Nora Ephron and Delia Ephron's Love, Loss, and What I Wore in which she appeared in a record-breaking five all-star casts.
Zuzanna Szadkowski | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | October 22, 1978 |
| Education | Barnard College (BA) Harvard University (MFA) |
| Occupation | Actress |
| Years active | 2004–present |
Early and personal life
editZuzanna Szadkowski was born on October 22, 1978, in Warsaw, Poland, and moved to the United States when she was three. About her national identity and Polish accent, she displays in Gossip Girl, she said, "I was born in Poland, so I am able to identify with her that way. The accent is modeled after people in my own family, so hopefully I am doing it justice".[1] Szadkowski is a YoungArts alumnus.[2] In 1997, she was named a Presidential Scholar of the Arts as part of the 1997 U.S Presidential Scholars Program.[3] She attended Barnard College of Columbia University, and went on to earn a Master of Fine Arts in acting from the Institute for Advanced Theater Training at Harvard University.[4][5]
Szadkowski currently resides in Downtown Brooklyn.[6] In 2010, she partnered with Sam Weisman to open an acting school, the Sam Weisman Studio, in New York City.[7]
Career
editSzadkowski made her acting debut in 2006, portraying two characters in Law & Order: Criminal Intent season 5 episode "Watch". She would reprise these roles in the season 7 episode "Lonelyville". In 2007, Szadkowski appeared in two episodes of The Sopranos, "Soprano Home Movies" and "Kennedy and Heidi". The same year, she was cast as Dorota Kishlovsky, the Polish maid of Blair Waldorf (Leighton Meester), in The CW series Gossip Girl. On April 20, 2009, The CW launched the Gossip Girl spin-off web series titled Gossip Girl: Chasing Dorota, consisting of six episodes.
Szadkowski also appeared as Nurse Pell on Steven Soderbergh's The Knick. She appeared in Girls, Search Party, The Good Wife, Elementary, and Guiding Light. Theatre credits include Uncle Romeo Vanya Juliet (WSJ Performance of the Year 2018); The Crucible; and Peter Pan with Bedlam; queens at LCT3; The Comedy of Errors as part of The Public Theater's Mobile Shakespeare Unit; King Philip's Head... with Clubbed Thumb; The 39 Steps at Actors Theatre of Louisville; The Merry Wives of Windsor at Two River Theater; and King Lear at Bristol Riverside Theatre. Szadkowski performed a one-woman show she also wrote as part of Bedlam's online theatre festival during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Filmography
editFilm
edit| Year | Title | Role | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | Tower Heist | Polish Maid | Uncredited |
| 2012 | Where Is Joel Baum? | Polish Cleaning Lady | |
| 2013 | Butterflies of Bill Baker | Monica | |
| 2015 | Growing Up and Other Lies | CeCe | |
| 2016 | Loserville | Janice Rappaport | |
| 2018 | Pigeon | Nina | Short |
| 2020 | Minyan | Rivka | |
| Worth | Myrna | ||
| Ill Feelings | Genevieve | Short |
Television
edit| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2006 | Law & Order: Criminal Intent | Trina | Episode: "Watch" |
| 2007–2012 | Gossip Girl | Dorota Kishlovsky | 79 episodes (1 uncredited) |
| 2007 | Law & Order: Criminal Intent | Olga | Episode: "Lonelyville" |
| The Sopranos | Elzbieta | 2 episodes | |
| 2009 | Guiding Light | Sister Angelica | 3 episodes |
| 2014–2015 | The Knick | Nurse Pell | 15 episodes |
| 2015 | Elementary | Miranda Jantzen | Episode: "Seed Money" |
| Girls | Priya | 3 episodes | |
| 2016 | The Good Wife | Gloria Beattie | Episode: "Shoot" |
| 2017 | Search Party | Aphrodite | Episode: "Frenzy" |
| 2021 | Bull | Emily Kaminsky | Episode: "Evidence To The Contrary" |
| Modern Love | Judy | Episode: "How Do You Remember Me?" | |
| Gossip Girl | Dorota Kishlovsky | Episode: "Final Cancellation" | |
| 2022 | The Gilded Age | Mabel Ainsley | 7 Episodes |
Web
edit| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | Gossip Girl: Chasing Dorota | Dorota Kishlovsky | 6 episodes |
References
edit- ^ Marci, Steve (February 18, 2009). "An Interview with Zuzanna Szadkowski". TVFantastic.com. Retrieved September 28, 2011.
- ^ "Our History | 40 years for artists". YoungArts. Retrieved 2024-10-02.
- ^ Foundation, National YoungArts. "National YoungArts Foundation Second Annual YoungArts Awareness Day Thursday, September 24, 2015". www.prnewswire.com. Retrieved 2024-10-02.
- ^ "Biography for Zuzanna Szadkowski". Internet Movie Database. Retrieved September 28, 2011.
- ^ "Zuzanna Szadkowski". American Repertory Theater. Retrieved September 28, 2011.
- ^ Rovzar, Chris (December 16, 2008). "Zuzanna Szadkowski, a.k.a. Dorota, Fights a Lifelong War With the Alarm Clock". New York. Retrieved September 28, 2011.
- ^ Kuhn, Sarah (September 29, 2010). "Sam Weisman and Zuzanna Szadkowski". Backstage. Retrieved September 28, 2011.